Skiing in Switzerland could be about to get a whole lot cheaper with crowdfunded lift passes

Saas Fee in Switzerland is offering the chance to ski for less this season with a cut-price lift pass – but it will only happen if enough people want one.

The resort is selling its season-long lift passes, usually CHF1,050 (£867), to CHF222 (£184) – a discount of around 80 per cent. It's also attempting to instil loyalty to the resort by offering three-year lift passes for just CHF622 (£514), plus 15-year passes, for big-time Saas Fee fans, priced at CHF2,999 (£2,479) – with the latter working out as just CHF200 (£165) per season. However, these prices are dependant on 99,999 people reserving them in advance.

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These cut-rate lift passes can be booked online for free until November 27 2016. The deal will be honoured only if the target is reached – otherwise passes will be sold at the normal rate. At the time of writing, 8,896 passes have been reserved in total.

If it goes ahead, the offer means that skiers and riders can access Saas Fee's 100km of sunny, snowsure pistes for the whole season for less than the cost of a four-day area lift pass.

A representative from the resort said: “Alpine tourism is facing a challenge due to an imbalance of supply and demand. In many areas, the surplus of resorts means that costs can no longer be covered. Saas Fee wants to solve the problem by introducing a revolutionary price concept.

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“Our guests tend to stay for an average of four days. We want to make the price attractive for these customers. A four-day ski pass currently costs 259 francs; with the WinterCard Saas Fee they can ski for less than that and, more importantly, for the whole winter.”

Those who sign up before November 6 can also get further early-bird discounts, making passes even more affordable.